Thursday, 4 September 2014

On the Green Valley farm, the animals are really
excited about the new rooster. And it is not surprising for Boran
the Rooster has indeed a powerful and enigmatic voice, which makes
the lassies heave in infatuation and the boys go green with envy. I
myself find his insistence on giving concerts at the break of dawn
quite annoying.

Moving on. Popcorn Piggy lives in the third sty from the stables.
For your information, a pigsty is a conveniently well-ventilated
place since the body odour excreted by this species is notoriously
peculiar. At the front of the sty there is always an inviting mud
puddle, where all the pigs spend most of the time wallowing in mire.
I do not find this habit at all fun or appealing: Just the other
day, some mud splashed onto my left wing and I barely managed to fly
down to the fountain to wash it out. However, pigs seem to have a
ball in it and the mud is actually good for them, helping to maintain
their skin youthful and rosy over time. At least that is what I
gather, as I have always had a hard time guessing how old they
actually are … Well, I can only guess their age from their size:
the larger they are the older, isn't that right?

And me? Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Paublabbery
the Parrot. I am the most well-travelled inhabitant of the farm and
I know everything that goes on around here.

.

It is only ten in the morning and Popcorn Piggy is once again
half-asleep. 'Popcorn Piggy, what's the matter with you lately? You
look sleepy all the time! Luckily, it's the summer holiday and there
is no school. Otherwise, you'd be in trouble: in that drowsy state
of mind you'd never be able to focus on your gruntphabet! Look ...'

'Ugh!' snorted Popcorn Piggy. 'Paublabbery the Parrot, you're the
one who wears we down when you talk so much and so fast. Do let me
rest!'

'Piggy Porphirio? Piggy Porphirio? Oh, why don't you just stop
rolling around in the mud like that and tell me something ... Do you
have any idea why your cousin has been so wistful and tired lately?'

'Well, g'day to you too, Paublabbery the Parrot.' said Piggy
Porphirio, feeling a bit irritated by the bird's apparent lack of
charm. Which cousin? There are so many of them.'

'Don't play dumb, Piggy Porphirio. Naturally, I'm talking about the
one who is always hanging around you … or you with her. Who
cares? Whether it's you who follows her or she you, you're just like
two Siamese twins joined at the hip ... '

'Really!?! Boran the Rooster?' shouted the parrot in a shrill voice.
'But, he's so much older than her!'

'Yeah, but she once confided in me that she's into older animals with
spiky crests.' whispered Piggy Porphirio.

'Squaaaaaawk! This is gold! Thank's a million Piggy Porphirio'
screeched Paublabbery the Parrot, by then flying towards the chicken
coop.

Before 6 o'clock the following morning, Popcorn Piggy was already up,
with her bangs stretched and her nails painted. She was ready to
listen to her dearest Rooster Boran. Little did she know that she
was about to live the most embarrassing but also the happiest moment
of her young life on the Green Valley farm.

'Huh-hum,'
started Boran the Rooster from the top of his perch, 'Today I want to
dedicate my first song, Solamente tú,
to a young fan .... Huh, sorry, … Paublabbery the Parrot, what's
the name of that little piglet again? ... Ah, yes, then this one is
especially for you, Popcorn Piggy, you in the third sty from the
stables, ... Solamente Tú.

Popcorn Piggy's heart stopped beating for a few seconds. No, this
could not be happening to her. These things do not happen to her.
All that happiness that filled her being! What a thrill!

Thankfully it was still a bit dark outside, otherwise the others
would have a field day if they saw how she turned from pink to bright
red.

.

When Paublabbery the Parrot reached the pigsty, she found Popcorn
Piggy muttering something to herself. For once silent, but only out
of interest, Paublabbery the Parrot tilted her head to the left so
as to hear better.

'...cornboran, 'is all that Parrot Paulradora managed to hear.

'... Cornboran?!? What on earth is she on about?' muttered Parrot
Paulradora to herself.

'Popcorn Boran. Popcorn Boran. Popcorn Piggy Boran. Oooooh! This
name is music to my ears,' said Popcorn Piggy, unaware that she was
being observed.

'Squawk!' Paublabbery the Parrot let out a gasp of laughter.

'Gosh! You frightened me half to death, you idiot!' cried Popcorn
Piggy, with a tremble in her voice.

'Ha, ha ... You said Popcorn Piggy Boran, yes you did! I heard you
loud and clear!

'Shush! Pleaaaaaase Paublabbery the Parrot, please don't tell anyone
about this. I was just daydreaming. If the others find out about
this I 'll never hear the end of it.'

'Chill out, Popcorn Piggy' said Paublabbery the Parrot quickly,
realising that her friend from the Green Valley farm was really
distressed. 'I won't say a word … So, did you like the surprise?

'Oh, Paublabbery the Parrot, it was fantastic. I never thought it
would be possible to feel like this, to live such a happy moment in
my life. Ever! Thank y...'

'Yes,
it was very nice and kind of him. With so many fans and he accepted
to sing for me!
What joy! But you were also very nice, Paublabbery the Parrot …
' And giving the parrot a gentle nudge on the chest, she proceeded,
'You're a good friend. Thank you.'

- Jessica (now 10)

1Solamente tú, song
by Pablo Alboran.

- COPYRIGHT/Registado no IGAC

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Friday, 8 August 2014

A new take on AEsop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper/Cricket.What happens when a mismatched couple is forced to work together in order to survive?'Help!
Help!' cried out a poor red ant as she fought against the current.
Two silk worms had already sailed past her on a mulberry leaf, a frog
with red spots had glided by struggling to man a huge lily pad, as
had several ants, her supposed friends, some surfing small twigs
others punting in long lemongrass leafs. Unfortunately no one had
stopped to help her. She was getting weaker and her morale had
already drown in the painful realisation
of the insignificance of life, the justification of the
every-one-for-themselves philosophy as a survival tactic, and it
seems, the unlucky first-hand witness of the old Darwinian theory of
the survival of the fittest ... She could actually understand the
silkworms' attitude, for if they were an item, they certainly would
not appreciate having a third party rocking the balance of both the
relationship and the improvised raft; especially considering that
they were both rather overweight. The ability to notice such a
futile detail in a moment of dire distress surpassed her. As for the
frog not stopping to help, it may have been a blessing in disguise.
It would have been like getting into deeper trouble since it is
public knowledge that those amphibians are always munching on
something. Hungry or not, the fast gooey whip-like tongue of theirs
is always snapping up unsuspecting insects; as if eating were more of
a hobby than a basic need to these creatures. What angered and
saddened Aurora the most was the fact that none of the ants had as
much tried to grab hold of one of her legs. On the last leaf, she
had clearly seen Calleigh, Hyacinth and Gregory, her so-called best
friends.

It
is said that the last milliseconds before crossing over to the other
side – wherever the other side may be – you can see your whole
life flash before your eyes. This was certainly not the case: The
only thoughts that crossed poor ant's mind were those sad
philosophical considerations. It did not seem worth fighting back
anymore. She no longer had the strength to push on. The rain poured
down, pushing her back under the few times she had managed to lift
her head out of the water to breathe. The current, too, was so
strong it made her twirl faster than a spin top. What a pity! Never
had she imagined death would come to her this way. Her ideal death,
one where she left this earth-bound world very discreetly as her
eyelids dozed off for a while; she had also pictured herself kicking
the bucked while carrying one last peanut, dropped on the ground by
some greedy tourist, which definitely would not be too terrible a
death if it were one of those salty, honey-coated peanuts. A
palatable death that would be – not bad at all!

*

'Hey,
wakey-wakey! Do not make me give you mouth to mouth!', said Nando
the cricket, while he turned the ant over
and patted her a few times on the back. 'Come on, if you die it'll
be a waste of energy on my part ... Look! I almost died myself to
save your neck, so spit out all that water!'

'Well,
it seems that it's really going to be necessary! Just remember that
if you wake up while I'm performing CPR, I won't marry you just
because you think that we're kissing.' said the cricket before
taking in a deep breath and blowing into the ant, which seemed to be
neither-here-nor-there.

'Baaaarf,'
the ant spat him full in the face and started coughing
uncontrollably.

Even
though it was not necessary due to the amount of water that bucketed
down from the sky, Nando the cricket instinctively took his hand to
his face to wipe it clean. 'Well, it seems that today is your lucky
day,' said the cricket to the ant. 'It was a close shave but you're
back now.'

'Help!
Get away from me! What were you doing hovering over me?' screamed
Aurora the ant not yet recovered from her near death experience and
already fearing for her life.

'I was
naturally about to take advantage of you, can't you see that?'
retorted Nando sarcastically. 'Surely, now that there's nothing else
we can do rather than try to survive, it's exactly what is on your
silly little mind that I was going to do – Not! You silly,
conceited little ant! Nando did not quite know whether he was angry,
embarrassed or offended. Most likely he was feeling all of those
emotions at the same time. However, there was no time to lose on
that nonsense, so he turned his back on the ant to once again focus
on the wind speed and direction.

It
was dark and because of the rain she could not tell what was
happening. Aurora shut her eyes and the events of her near-death
experience, of the friends who had abandoned her to her fate, came to
mind. True, they had been fighting for their lives as well, but how
could they have ignored her cries of distress. She herself would
never have abandoned them without first tossing them a hair of
horse-tail that ants always carry on them, for them to try and grab
onto ... What a letdown! And who was this strange, somewhat arrogant
stranger? It was more than clear that he had saved her, but it
seemed like he had a lot of rough edges.

'Hey,
you there, if you feel better stand on the other side of the leaf, we
have to keep it steady or we'll both end up in the stream ... '
Nando's voice was strong and his tone admitted no defiance. However,
it would never have crossed Aurora's mind to get defensive because of
that for she was well aware that the situation was a delicate one.
At least her companion seemed to know something about navigation –
or so she hoped.

They
spent a few hours adrift, swapping places from time to time to offset
the force of the water, trying not to let too much of it accumulate
on the violet leaf and thus, hopefully, keep them afloat.

In
silence, the two unlikely companions managed to survive the flood,
and by the break of dawn both rain and wind had stopped, and the
creek was calm and serene. Of course, serene water and no a breeze
in the air also meant that the violet leaf-recently-promoted-to-raft
found itself as still as death.

'Well,
it seems that we dodged that bullet. Best we hit the sack ... '
Seeing that the ant's eyes had widened with fear or outrage, Nando
stopped short of finishing his sentence. It was just too much for
him! 'You know,' he proceeded, 'You're either a very silly or a very
perverted little ant! What I meant was that we need to get some
sleep in order recover our strength. So, let's try to get a bit of
shuteye, shall we? On separate ends of the raft, get it?' He felt
too shattered by the ordeal they had been through to even entertain
the thought of fooling around. Really, there were nut jobs
everywhere!

A
blush of shame crept up Aurora's face as she curled up in her corner
of the makeshift raft and tried to sleep. Tried being the operative
tense as she could not help thinking that she had indeed been silly
to think the cricket had wanted to hurt her. After all, he had saved
her life and if anything she should be grateful to him. It was with
these thoughts dancing around in her head that Aurora allowed the
tiredness to take over her body and fell asleep. She slept for five
hours straight and would have slept longer, had her travelling
companion not woken her up by splashing water on her.

'Hey,
stop it! Don't you think I had enough water on me last night?' she
snapped.

'It
was that or go up there myself and most likely you'd think I was
trying to seduce you again ... ' Nando pause to enjoy the sight of
the ant blushing, and then continued in a more serious tone, 'We have
to start paddling to try and find a more sheltered spot, otherwise
this time we risk dying from sunburn. It's still early and we should
take advantage of the fact that the sun rays aren't too intense.' On
saying this, he began to hum as he used his left foreleg as a rowing
paddle.

In
silence, Aurora began to do the same on the right side of the leaf.
However, she was not one to be quiet time too long and soon the hum
of the cricket began to make her nervous.

'Oy,
you there ... ,' the ant called out in annoyance.

'My
name's Nando. I'm Nando the cricket.'

'Very
well, Mr Nando, can you tell me why you seem so happy? I fail to see
the fun in what has happened and what is still happening to us.
There's no reason to hum at a time like this. '

'Hmmm,
I didn't know I that sounded that bad ... ,' said Nando, pausing for
a bit, in the hope that the ant would tell him that he actually sang
very well; as she said nothing, he proceeded, ' ... singing helps me
focus on what I'm doing and makes any task all the more enjoyable to
carry out. Why don't you join me?'

'Ugh!'
was the only sound that came out of the ant's mouth.

And
so, in silence, correction, in the silence broken only by the song of
the cricket, the two creatures continued pedaling. A while later,
the exhausted ant had to stop to have a rest. Feigning sleep, she
was actually listening to the cricket, while he continued paddling
along.

Aurora
the ant felt a bit confused. Nando seemed to contradict everything
she had ever been told about crickets, which was that they were lazy
and irresponsible, that they would spend their time playing music and
singing instead of working hard so that in winter they did not have
to go from door to door begging for charity from the creatures who,
unlike them, had not fooled around and had managed to gather and
store enough food to stay alive and well-nourished all through the
cold months of winter. In contrast, this cricket definitely seemed
to have more strength and will-power than she had herself and on top
of it all, he did it willingly, humming along as he did so. Aurora,
had always been hard-working but truth be told, she did what she did
because she had to and not because she did not mind doing it. In
fact, it annoyed her to have to do any kind of work at all, because
she always ended up not having time to do anything else, not even to
try and figure out what she could be doing if she did not have to do
what she was doing ... A somewhat complicated explanation, but
'complicated' was her middle name.

A
good while later the cricket also took a
break. He was sweating so much that it seemed as if he had had a
cloud raining above him. Just the thought of that happening made the
ant burst out laughing.

'Now
what? What's the matter?' asked the confused cricket.

'Nothing,
it's nothing, really. I'm just being silly. It must be the heat.'
replied the ant.

'Since
you seem to be in a more talkative mood, may I ask what your name
is?' enquired Nando.

'A
name is just a name and it isn't worth much, especially when the
total amount of time spent together is rather limited, as is our
case.' replied the ant.

'You
may have a point there,' conceded Nando, 'But time, too, is abstract.
A minute of happiness never seems to last long enough, whereas a
minute of time spent waiting to find out whether or not a family
member or a friend of ours will survive, can turn into a painful
eternity ... Besides, there are only two of us now, so it might be
preferable to have me call you by your name than just 'Ant', don't
you think?

Aurora
ant was dumbfounded by the depth of the
cricket's dissertation on the duration of time. What he said was
true, but neither she nor any of her companions had ever had the urge
to think about how long time lasted let alone reach such a
realistically-idiosyncratic conclusion.

'Hey!
Are you ignoring me again? What have I done this time?'

'Uh?
Sorry, I was thinking of something else.' stammered the ant.
'You're right, there's no reason for us not to be on a first name
basis. I'm Aurora.'

'Please
to meet you, Aurora. Nando, a servant at your service!' said the
cricket bowing, mockingly.

'Er
... Nando,' said Aurora, once again with flushed cheeks, 'I think I
owe you many thanks for saving me. If you hadn't pulled me up from
the water, I might not have survived. So, thank you . '

This
time it was the cricket's turn to feel embarrassed. He had never
known how to accept praise nor thank-yous gracefully let alone one
coming from an ant – everyone knows the contempt ants feel towards
crickets!

'Well,
that's not important now,' he said, trying to sound indifferent,
'What's important is that we've both survived the storm and we're
safe and sound. All we need to do now is to focus on reaching dry
land.'

Aurora
smiled, noticing that the cricket felt ill at ease, but was kind
enough not to make any ironic comment.

'Cricket
Nando?'

'Yup?'

'Where
did you learn to sing? It's well-known that you crickets spend your
days singing ... ' She was about to add 'instead of working', but
checked herself in time and added, ' ... but your chanting sounds
different, you know, like more polished and exotic.'

Nando
became taller with pride, 'As a matter of fact, I really wanted to be
a composer, but as there is a lot of competition among crickets, I
decided I would travel the world to listen to and learn the songs of
the various tribes of crickets, and then compose a few songs of my
own. I have always been well-accepted by the different tribes
because ... ' he hesitated before he continued, 'Because there's
always room in our different tribes for those who are willing to
share the many daily tasks that need to be carried out. As long as
you're willing to do that, they'll take you in.'

‘You
mean the idea that crickets spend their time singing a lie?' asked
Aurora feeling more and more intrigued by what Nando was saying.

'Well,
it is and it isn't. Though it's true crickets have many flaws, such
as being highly competitive as I've already mentioned, we also work
hard and we're a very happy lot as well as musically gifted.'

As
there was no sign of annoyance or irony coming from the ant, Nando
continued, 'Over the years our scientists have also observed that
music makes us more productive and proportionally happier. Combined
with the awareness of our low life-expectancy, we believe that each
day is to be lived as if it were our last ... That's why our days
begin and end with a song of gratitude to life, as if celebrating our
daily rebirth. We do work, but we also try to develop other areas
that give us pleasure, which, for most of us, is singing ... And
what about you? What do ants do in their free time?'

Aurora
the ant felt a bit uncomfortable with the question. 'Well, you know,
we kind of work from sunrise to sunset so that we don't go hungry in
the winter. And in fact, we always survive the harshest of winters
... But spare time is something we do not have. When we get home,
it's already time to go to bed ... '

'But
what about in wintertime? There's no longer need for you to work
then ... so how do you spend your time?

'We
basically eat and sleep,' said Aurora a bit dismayed at the
realisation that
she might not have been living life to the fullest.

I

'Ah!
We do lead different lives. I'm starting to understand the hostility
you feel towards us ... ' Nando's voice trailed off weakly.

'Yes,
it seems that for too long both species have had erroneous
pre-conceived ideas about one another.' said the ant sadly.

'Anyway,
... ' added Nando in an almost exaggerated cheerful voice as the
conversation had become somewhat heavy, 'I seem to see land over
there. Shall we get back to paddling?
But let's switch places or else we'll have an over-developed arm
like tennis players do!’

'Yes,
let's, that makes sense. But try not to rock the raft too much, will
you?'

And
another lapse of silence was broken by the cricket's song.

'Nando,'
interrupted Aurora some time later, 'have you thought about where
you'll go once we get to dry land? '

'No, I
can't say I have. Actually, I almost never know where I'm going
until I get there. And then «there» never becomes a permanent
place for me either.'

'Don't
you ever get tired of roaming the world?'

'I
want to be the best composer in the word, and travelling is the only
way I know of to pick up new melodies and rhythms ... Then again,
I've also never stayed too long in one place because there was
nothing there that made me feel I belonged ... I don't know … I
really can't explain it.'

'And
what will you do when you're old and you're unable to travel from one
place to another? '

'I
don't know. I've never given it much thought, to be honest. Like I
said, adult crickets don't usually live long ... I might not even
live to be seven weeks old, which is the longest any cricket has ever
lived ... but never mind that. What about you, Aurora, what do you
plan to do when we get off this leaf? '

'I've
never been separated from my army. I don't know what will become of
me, to be honest. I have no idea whether I'll manage to survive on
my own or not. As far as I know, no ant has ever been able to. But
even if I find my mates, I don't think I'll join them. I'd rather
die alone than go back to working with them. You know, they didn't
even try to save me. They sailed right past me when I was struggling
against the cold, wild water ... nor did they throw me a horse-tail
hair, which is something all ants have tied around their legs, in
case one of us falls off a cliff or something. I wasn't at the
bottom of a ravine, but they could have at least tried to save me ...
' Aurora's voice failed as she said this. It was such an unpleasant
memory!

An
ant on its own would not survive even a minute, Nando the cricket was
well-aware of that. He had learned about it in a survival class.
How did the manual read? «If attacked by ants, crickets should try
to disperse them for they are powerless against us, on their own.
They will also not be able to find their way back home; they will
eventually die of sadness or because of their lack of survival skills
when isolated in inhospitable terrain.»

'How
about joining another colony of ants?' suggested the cricket.

'How
little you know about us!' replied the ant, feeling increasingly
depressed. 'We're divided into different groups. Each group is
called an 'Army' for a reason: We are always ready to fight for our
territory. No ant can escape from a neighboring territory alive let
alone from a territory that's so far away from home. At least, not
alone, they won't!'

'But
don't worry about me. Teach me that gratitude song of yours and I'll
do as the crickets do. I'll sing it all day during whatever time
I've got left. I may even find something I enjoy doing before I die:
That would be a far bigger accomplishment than if I had lived a
lifetime in my colony '

And
that is how Aurora the ant learnt the song of crickets. She did not
sing it at all well. No, that she did not. However, her commitment
and feeling were such that Nando's sensitive eardrums suffered no
irreparable blow.

Aurora
sang with all her heart and soul. She had learnt something precious:
Adult crickets lived four to six weeks only and thus knew they had
to live the time they had to the fullest. A time well employed might
seem like an eternity, she said to herself, recalling what the
cricket had said on the subjectivity of the length a minute. Well,
she had reversed his theory just a tad, giving it a more positive
interpretation. But if it worked one way, it could easily work just
as well the other way round.

The
average lifespan of an ant is 45 to 60 days. So, 39 days in, she
should really stop wasting time. Isolated from the rest of her
colony she would be lucky if she lived to be 40, let alone 60.

Finally
on dry land! What a great feeling - both Aurora the ant and Nando
the cricket were ecstatic.

'We've
made it, haven't we?' asked Aurora, still a bit incredulous.

'Of
course we have. We've both made it safe and sound! Nice team work!'
was Nando's reply.

'Listen!
I think there's a group of crickets over there. How lucky can you
get! And you don't have to walk far to get there either.' Aurora
pointed out.

Nando
couldn't be happier, 'Wonderful! This gives a new meaning to the word
'luck'!

'Good
luck, Nando ... and once again, thank you for saving me, and for
everything you've taught me. You've got a heart the size of the
Moon.' Aurora did not know where all that had come from or exactly
what she was feeling at that moment. She had never had to say
goodbye to anyone.

'The
pleasure was all mine. And as I said earlier, I think we saved each
other. I'm not sure either of us would have made ​​it this far
without help.' Nando had barely finished uttering these words when
like a bolt of lightening, Aurora flung her arms around his neck.

She
gave him such a tight hug that Nando thought one of his wings would
be non-operational for days. But what a hug! He had never received
such a warm a hug! It was so powerful, that it almost made ​​him
feel like not joining the other crickets. But what else could he do?
With a hurt so deep inside that crushed his heart and his
spirit, he began to say his farewells to this amazing friend he had
just met and was prematurely about to lose forever.

'Goodbye
Aurora, my friend. Take good care of yourself, okay?'

'Yes.
You too ... You know, I think you're already the best composer in
the world … Goodbye!' Aurora turned her back on him to hide the
tears that stubbornly rolled down her cheek, and started walking
aimlessly in the opposite direction.

'Wait,
Aurora, wait! We're both a little lost, aren't we? How about coming
along with me to the new tribe of crickets over there and showing
them that you can also sing the song of gratitude to life? ' Nando
was euphoric. Why had he not thought of that before?

'You
know,' he continued, 'crickets have always nurtured an inferiority
complex towards you ants and if an ant like you were to prove that
they actually appreciated us, well, I'm sure they'd take you in in a
wink. They'd let you stay as long as you wanted, until you've
decided if you want to stay or leave. So, what do you say? Shall we
give it a go?'

'Yes.
Yes. Yes. Let's go there and see what happens! ' Said Aurora, once
again throwing her arms around Nando's neck. 'But what if they don't
accept me? And what'll happen when you decide to leave again?'

'Calm
down. One thing at a time. You will be accepted or I'm not the best
composer in the world and vicinity! And if I decide to leave again,
you ask? Then,' he said giving her an intense look, 'you can decide
whether you want to follow me, stay behind with the crickets or set
off in search of your own colony ... But let's agree to deal with
each challenge as they arise, Okay?

'OK
OK Okay!' Aurora had never felt so happy.

Hand
in hand, Nando and Aurora walked towards the bush at the end of the
path.

What a
precious sight! Two very distinct beings – from different planets
almost, one could say –, walking side by side, enjoying and sharing
a common feeling of Love and Friendship.

'Ah,
yes, just one more thing before we arrive,' said Nando tentatively,
almost afraid of his mate's reaction, 'when you sing our song, do you
think you can lower your pitch by about 5 decibels?'

- COPYRIGHT/Registado no IGAC

If you enjoyed reading this story please clickg+1and/or leave a comment.

Thursday, 24 April 2014

The day had finally come
for Kheila to be separated from her family. She was frightened and
felt really insecure, the poor thing. Had she done something to
upset her owners? What could it have been? She was generally a
quiet, well-behaved pooch whom everybody seemed to love. Yet they
were going to give her away.

'She's a lovely dog and
I'm sure you'll love her as much as we do,' said the woman to Mrs G.
'You see, there are three of them now plus our children, and we live
in a small flat. We've decided to give Kheila away because she's the
sweetest one and we think her chances of adapting to all the
changes and finding a new home with the adoptive family are higher.'

'She's the oldest of our
three dogs. Perhaps that's why she's got such a calm and loving
character. Her brother is the youngest and is still up to a lot of
mischief; her sister is blind, which would demand too much extra care
from the new family. In fact, I don't think anyone would actually
want to adopt a blind dog...'

'So, here you are, please
treat her nicely, will you?' The woman's voice trembled with sadness
as she handed Kheila over to Mrs G.

For
the first couple of weeks not once did anyone hear Kheila bark or
whine with grief. She ate just enough to keep her going through the
day, but she was also getting weaker.

Kheila
felt conflicted. She felt as though she should hate the new family, the
new house, everything, but she couldn't. Why couldn't she? Why did
they have to confuse her even more by being so kind to her?

*

One
day Kheila had a very strange experience. In her sleep she was
visited by a small black dog called Starlight.

Starlight

'Hi,
there, Kheila,' said Starlight, 'you needn't be afraid or feel so sad
and depressed. These are good people and they seem to like you a
lot.'

'Who
are you?' asked Kheila a bit overwhelmed with the shimmering of the
other dog's fur.

'I'm
Starlight, this family's previous pet. Kheila, I had a long,
wonderful life in this house. They always looked after my health and
kept my fur shiny and sparkling and my belly full of yummy nutritious
food. Trust me, you'll be fine. This family will do the same for
you – Can't you tell you've already won them all over?'

'Yes,
they have been very nice and I do enjoy not having to share all the
treats and cuddles with anyone else...but I can't help feeling sorry
for myself. Why didn't my former family want me anymore? I've been
going over every minute of my life with them in my head and I can't
remember anything I might have done so wrong that would make them want to get
rid of me.'

'My
dearest Kheila, it had nothing to do with you. It was just life that
got in the way. It happens sometimes. You must agree that the other
flat was getting a bit too crowded. You were the sweetest and the
gentlest of the three pets, and you had no health problem – that's
why they thought it would be easier for you to find a nice caring
family.' Starlight added, feeling slightly emotional.

Kheila
became silent again as if trying to absorb everything she'd just
heard.

'And
from now on, promise you'll start eating properly again. Embrace the
change, your new life and this new family. You're a very lucky
pooch. You'll have a wonderful life with your adoptive family, just
like I did.' As soon as Starlight had uttered those words, she was
gone.

Kheila
opened her heavy eyes and rubbed them with her little front-right paw
to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. Suddenly she felt a ray of
happiness going through her body and for the first time in two weeks
she went straight to her dish and happily chomped on her
salmond-flavoured puppy chow. Mmmmmmmm! It tasted so good!

From
that day onwards Kheila no longer felt abandoned or alone. The
spirit of the former family pet was with her; she could feel it.
What is more, she finally realised that she was loved, perhaps more
than ever before.

Kheila

'Come
here little Kheila,' beckoned Mrs G. 'You look very happy today!
How about jumping into your travel bag and coming for a drive? Would
you like that?'

Like
a bolt of lightning, Kheila jumped into her bag and gave a woof'
of happiness. She had found her voice again.

- COPYRIGHT/Registado no IGAC

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A Question of Colour

Fortunately I've been able to go through life unnoticed, and the few times I've been spotted have turned out to be quite traumatising experiences, a close shave, a near miss, whatever you want to call it... However, I'd much rather not think about those anguished times and concentrate on the others when, ignored by the world, I manage to get a first row seat to interesting events that, were I visible, would otherwise be inaccessible to me. I don't want to sound conceited or anything but I reckon there aren't many who can say they've observed what I've had the privilege to witness.

You look doubtful and probably think I'm exaggerating. Well, then, let me just ask you one little question? Did you know that colours could talk? No? Well they can - and to tell the truth, they're all a bit full of themselves. (...)

About me:

Born in Mozambique, she grew up in South Africa and has travelled widely, both as a student and a teacher of English as a Foreign Language.
Nasceu em Moçambique, cresceu na África do Sul e tem viajado extensamente, tanto como estudante como professora de Inglês como língua estrangeira.